Let’s be clear: Father Time has never been conquered. No matter how much we want to believe that our golf swing will always be fluid and strong, we must acknowledge that a loss of pop is inevitable. It is unavoidable. (I know you don’t want to read a depressing article, but bear with me.)
The good news is that technology can assist you in defying Father Time and retaining a significant amount of your distance.
With AI-designed driver faces and ultra-forgiving hollow-bodied irons, club engineers continue to push the envelope. We’ve gotten to a position where technology can help you get better as you get older, which seems absurd.
So, why do so many senior golfers have trouble with their game as they age? It has more to do with the masculine ego, according to Golf Laboratories founder Gene Parente, than just losing strength and distance.
“A guy swinging 90 miles per hour thinks he needs a 9-degree [stiff flex shaft] because he played a stiff flex when he was 25, and now he’s 60,” Parente said on GOLF’s Fully Equipped podcast. “He just can’t quite come to grips that he’s not 25 anymore. So much of it is preconceived notions from our youth. The reality is if you allow the technology to guide your purchases — meaning let the technology define what your optimals are — and don’t look at the number on the club or what the flex is, you’ll be better off.”
Launch monitors and club fitters have made optimizing your equipment easier than ever before. However, keeping the clubs workable ultimately depends on the golfer’s willingness to reduce shaft flex or add loft.
“There’s a saying I believe in: Play the lightest, most flexible thing you can get away with,” Parente stated “. “From an enjoyment standpoint, you want something that’s easy to swing and gets the ball in the air. Most amateur golfers have a couple of tendencies — they swing too hard, and they have a tendency of throwing the club, and as they throw the club, they hit down on the ball. That’s why the ball comes out low and leaks to the right. Every one of these manufacturers knows this and tries to design around that. But if you don’t get buy-in from the player, it doesn’t matter what the manufacturer is designing.”
It’s easier said than done, but if golfers — especially those on the older end of the spectrum — can put their egos aside and let launch monitor data and fitter recommendations start dictating their club-buying experience, they’ll be able to fight off Father Time for the near future — and probably lose a few shots in the process.
Original article posted on Golf
